Dispenser for sheet material



Marc 31, 1.942. v R. E. WALSH ETAL DISPENSER FOR SHEET MATERIAL y Filed Dc. 2o, 1940 2 sheets-sheet 1 l INVENToRs.

."TToRNEY.

Mmh 31, 1942.

R. E. WALSH Erm. 2,278,029 DISPENSER FOR SHEET MATERIAL:

Filed DC; 2o, 1940 `:a sheets-sheet 2 f7.2-6.3

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. l INVENTORS.

ATTORNEYS.l

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Patented Mar. 31, 1942 DISPENSER FOR SHEET MATERIAL Russell E. Walsh, Gardena, and Ray 0. Wilson,

Los Angeles, Calif.

Application December 20, 1940, Serial No. 371,012

4 Claims.

Our invention relates to a dispensing device for rolled sheet material and has particular reference to a dispenser for rolled paper toweling and similar paper products.

Prior towel dispensing devices of the class to which this invention relates, namely, those including a cabinet housing a continuous roll of paper toweling which may be unwound from the roll and torn off in predetermined lengths, usually employed a positive stop for stopping the feeding of the toweling when a predetermined length thereof was removed from the cabinet. In order to remove another length, it was necessary to rst disengage this stop. Certain of the prior devices employed a lever for this purpose, but these constructions have not been entirely satisfactory for the reason that a person desiring to withdraw a towel from the cabinet invariably had his hands wet with the result that the lever soon became soiled and dirty and water dripping from the hands of the person operating such lever entered the interior of the cabinet through the slot through which the lever was extended to thereby cause rusting and deterioration of the mechanism enclosed within the cabinet.

Other forms of towel dispensing devices provided a window in the cabinet through which a portion of the rolled toweling was exposed so that a person could place his lingers in the opening and engage the toweling to thereby rst rotate the towel supporting roller backwards `to release the stop mechanism, whereupon a later forward rolling of the roller would project the end of the toweling from the cabinet to permit a length to be withdrawn from the roll. These devices also were not entirely satisfactory primarily for the reason that the portion of the toweling which was engaged by the operators fingers was moistened so that the operator re'- ceived from the towel cabinet a section of toweling having a wet spot thereon. While, as a matter of fact, this wet spot was caused by his own operation of the machine, there always existed a doubt in the mind of the user as to whether he was getting a clean towel or one which was soiled by a previous user of the cabinet.

Certain of the prior toweling devices were also, to a certain extent, unsatisfactory in that a portion of the toweling extended at all times from the cabinet so that that portion would, unless towels were frequently withdrawn from the machine, become soiled. Furthermore, most of the prior towel dispensing devices were diflicult to load when it was necessary to replace the roll of toweling enclosed within the cabinet for the reason that the free end of such roll had to be fed over and around a number of different rollers and like mechanisms which were enclosed within the cabinet in such manner as to be very inaccessible. 4

Still another diiiiculty was oftentimes encountered in the operation of prior dispensing devices. In these devices the severing of the withdrawn length of toweling from the remainder of such material was accomplished by lifting the end of the withdrawn length and pulling the strip of toweling across a serrated cutting member. This type of mechanism functioned to cleanly sever the toweling for only a portion of the width thereof, with the result that the last edge to be cut, instead of being cleanly cut, would oftentimes tear backwards along the length of the toweling and finally tear off at a point located somewhere in the interior of the dispensing cabinet, oftentimes fouling the mechanism or in other respects interfering with its operation. Furthermore, the water on the hands of a person attempting to tear off such a length of toweling would invariably run down his arms because of the relatively elevated position in which it was required to place his hand in order to tear off the withdrawn length of toweling, this in turn wetting his shirt or coat sleeve and causing the same to become soiled.

It is therefore an object of our invention to provide'a dispenser of the character above referred to in which the roll of sheet material is at all times completely enclosed by a cabinet, the mechanism being so arranged that the severing of a length of material from the roll occurs well within the cabinet to thereby protect all of the material against contamination.

It is also an object of our invention to provide a dispenser of the character set forth in the preceding paragraph in which a cutting element is employed for severing the withdrawn length of material to thereby avoid the necessity of pulling the material across a serrated member to tear the material in two.

It is a further object of our invention to provide a dispenser of the character set forth in the preceding paragraphs in which the cutting element is so arranged as to sever the material along two angularly disposed lines extending inwardly from the edge of the strip of material to points near the center of the strip closely spaced from each other, whereby the withdrawn length may be-readly and easily torn oif without tearing back.

It is an additional object of our invention to provide a dispenser of the character set forth hereinbefore in which a panel or portion of the cabinet extending across substantially the full width thereof is mounted for movement relative to the cabinet and coupled to mechanism within the cabinet in such manner that an upward push on the panel and a subsequent release of pressure will result in a portion of a unit length of sheet material vbeing fed outwardly from the cabinet, whereby the sheet material may at all times be completely enclosed within the cabinet and the end thereof projected so as to permit a user to grasp the same by merely pushing the panel inwardly and releasing the same.

Other objects and advantages ofV our invention will be apparent from a study of the following specifications, read in connection with the accompanying drawings, wherein:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view illustrating the general appearance of the cabinet which may be employed to house the towel dispensing mechanism of our invention;

Fig. 2 is a cross sectional View of the mechanism illustrated in Fig. 1 and illustrating ceri tain of the details of the interior construction;

Fig. 3 is a section taken substantially along the line III-III of Fig. 2 to illustrate additional details of construction;

Figs. 4 and 5 are fragmentary sectional views taken substantially along the line IV-IV of Fig. 3 and illustrating two operating positions of an interrupted gear mechanism employed with the device of our invention;

Figs. 6 and 7 are fragmentary sectional views taken substantially along the line VI--VI of Fig. 3 illustrating the operation `of a stop and stop release mechanism;

Fig. 8 is a fragmentary cross sectional View taken substantially along the line VIII-VIII of Fig. 3 to illustrate the manner in which a cutting element is employed for severing a withdrawn length of sheet material; and

Fig. 9 is a diagrammatic View illustrating the manner in which the severing of the sheet material is performed by the cutting element.

Referring to the drawings, we have illustrated the preferred embodiment of our invention in Fig. l as including a cabinet I of generally rectangular form having a cover 2 mounted for hinged movement as by means of a transversely extending hinge 3. The upper surface 4 of the cabinet I and its cover 2 are preferably inclined at an acute angle to the back 5 of the cabinet so that when the same is secured to a vertically extending wall the upper surface 4 will be inclined at an angle to the horizontal, thereby avoiding the danger of injury to the finish of the cabinet resulting from burning cigarettes, cigars and the like placed on the top of the cabinet.

Within the cabinet I we mount a substructure or auxiliary support 6 comprising a pair of plate members 'I disposed at opposite sides of the cabinet, the plate members 'I being interconnected if desired as by means of a transversely extending rod 8 and a transversely extending bar 9. The sub-structure may be held in the proper location in its inward position as by providing on each of the end walls of the cabinet Ia pair of bosses I!) and il adapted to be received within notches I2 and I3 formed in the plate members l.

Each of the plate members 'I preferably includes an angularly upwardly extending arm portion I4 to each of which is pivotally attached,

as by means of pivots i5, outwardly and upwardly extending supporting arms I6. Each of the arms I6 carries a cylindrical boss member I'I on its outermost end, the boss member I'I being adapted to extend into the bore I3 of a mounting tube or spool I9 upon which a roll 2S of sheet material, such as paper toweling, is wound, the arms I6 and their bosses I'I serving to support the roll 23 for movement about the bosses I'l as an axis.

Downward pivotal movement of the arms I6 permits the under surface of the roll 20 to rest upon a transversely extending feed roller 2I which may be secured as by means of a pin 22 to a transversely extending roller shaft 23 supported between the sub-structure plates 'I for rotation relative thereto as by means of bearing members 2d and 25. The roller 2I may be of any conventionalv construction but we prefer to employ a. solid core portion 26 to which is applied an outer layer 2'I of rubber or similar resilient friction material so that rotation of the roll of toweling 20 will effect a rotation of the roller 2l and vice versa.

Near the roller 2I and extending parallel to the shaft 23 we mount a cutter shaft 28 which is also journaled for rotation in each of the substructure plates l. The cutter shaft 28 has secured thereto a cutter supporting member 29 which serves to carry a transversely extending cutting element 30 (see Figs. 2, 3 and 8). The cutting element 3D preferably comprises a pair of strips 3| and 32 of relatively thin sheet material each disposed radially relative to the shaft 28 and at oppositely directed angles to the length thereof so that each of the elements 3I and 32 defines a portion .of an oppositely handed helix.

The elements 3I and 32 may be secured to the support 29 as by providing a lengthwise extending channel 33 therein, the elements being inserted in such channel and held therein as by means of wedges 34 and 35. The outwardly extending edges of the members 3l and 32 are preferably scalloped or saw-toothed as illustrated in Fig. 3 and sharpened so as to cut the paper or sheet material with which they may be engaged. The sheet material is extended from the roll and about the roller 2I in such manner as to pass between the roller 2| and the cutter support 29.

The roller ZI is preferably provided with a lengthwise extending channel 36 disposed in. a

position to receive the .cutting elements 3I andv 32, it being understood that the cutting edge portion of the cutting elements 3I and 32 are disposed a suicient distance from the shaftl 28 as to extend into the channel 38 when the parts are disposed in a position such as that illustrated in Fig. 8.

The roller 2I and the cutter support 29 are interconnected by means of mechanism to be hereinafter described in such manner as to cause the cutter support 29 to be rotated in synchronism with the rotation of the roller 2| at the time the sheet material is to be severed by the cutters 3I and 32. Thus, a portion 31 of the toweling of sheet material which is extended between the roller ZI and the -cutter support 29A and across the channel 36 will be severed by the penetration of the cutting elements 3l and 32 into the channel 36 as the roller 2I and cutter support 29 are rotated to a position such as that illustrated in Fig. 8.

Penetration of the cutting edge of the cutters 3l and 32 through the sheet material 31 may be insured as by securely holding the sheet material against the surface of the roller 2I during the time the cutting elements are being pushed through the paper by the rotation of the roller 2| and the cutter support 29. of the toweling 31 may be accomplished by providing a pair of grooves or channels 38 and 39 spaced arcuately from the cutters 3| and 32 and extended parallel thereto, resilient members such as lengths of rubber tubing 49 and 4| being received within the channels 38 and 39 and secured therein as by means of a suitable adhesive. The resilient mem-bers 40 and 4| extend outwardly from the cutter shaft 28 a sufficient distance to bring them into forcible engagement with the surface of the roller 2| to thereby clamp thepaper 31 thereagainst when the parts are rotated to a position such as that illustrated in Fig. 8.

It will be noted by having reference to Fig. 3 that the cutting elements 3| and 32 each begin at points spaced from the edge of the sheet material 31 and extend inwardly toward each other. These elements are preferably terminated before they meet each other `so as to leave a space between the innermost ends of these cutting elements. Thus, the action of the cutters 3| and 32 is to cut the section of toweling along a pair of lines 42 and 43 (seefFig, 9), these lines being ldisposed in a V-shape relative to each other and each line extending from a point spaced slightly from the center of the strip of toweling 31 and through opposite ends thereof so that the toweling is completely cut through except at the center space 45.

The V-shape `defined by the cutting lines 42 and 43 is preferably so disposed as to point the apex thereof in the direction of a withdrawn length of toweling. By so doing, the cutting of the toweling is rst begun near the center and the cuts are `gradually extended outwardly toward the edges of the sheet as the tow-cling is withdrawn from the cabinet. Thus, during the time the severing of the toweling is being accomplished, the withdrawn portion is connected to the bulk of the toweling material by the center portion 45 and also at the edges of the sheet, thus providing adequate strength to permit the toweling to be withdrawn and the cutting operation to be performed. The edges of the material are severed last and since the eort of cutting the material disappears at the time the edges are severed, the strength of the central portion 45 is suiicient to permit the continued withdrawing of the toweling luntil the feeding of the bulk of the material is positively stopped in a manner to be described hereinafter.

The final disassociation of the withdrawn pertion of toweling from the bulk of the material is accomplished by tearing or breaking the remaining points of interconnection 45 and this will prevent the toweling from tearing back along the length of the material of the cabinet and also avoids the necessity of a lifting or twisting of the withdrawn length of toweling since a straight lengthwise pull will be suicient to detach the withdrawn length from the remainder.

The space between the innermost ends of the cutter elements 3| and 32 may be employed to receive a guide member 41 as by providing circumferentially extending grooves or recesses 48 and 49 in the central portion of the surface of the feed roller 2| and also in the corresponding portion of the -cutter support 29. The guide member 41 is preferably formed as indicated in Fig. 2 by bending a bottom wall portion 50 of the cabinet I along a transversely extending line This clamping 5| so as to extend upwardly and rearwardly to a point between the roller 2| and cutter support 29, the portion 41 preferably being cut away as indicated at 52 and 53 to provide a tongue-like extension 54 which is disposed completely between the feed roller 2| and the cutter support 29 being received in the grooves 48 and 49. A similar upper guide member 55 is preferably also disposed between the roller 2| and the cutter support 29, the member 55 being extended substantially parallel to the member 41 and spaced therefrom so as to :define a slot or channel through which the toweling 31 may be extended.

The members 41 and 55 are each respectively disposed in such positions that the tongue portions thereof are disposed below the surface of the cutter support 29 and the roller 2| so as to insure that a piece of the toweling 21 passed between the roller 2| and the cutter support 29 will be projected between the guide members 41 and 55.

The mechanism is preferably so arranged that the severing and tearing off of the withdrawn length of toweling from the body of the toweling material occurs when the line of perforations 42-43 is disposed Well within the channel defined by the guide members 41 and 55 so that when the withdrawn length is completely detached from the remainder of the toweling material, the outermost end of such remainder will be disposed in a position such as that indicated by reference character 56 in Fig. 2. It therefore becomes necessary to provide a means whereby a later user of the apparatus may cause the end 55 to be projected beyond the outermost end of the slot between the guiding members 41 and 55 so that such end may be grasped to withdraw a desired length of toweling.

This may be accomplished by providing a panel-like portion 51 which may comprise a continuation of the front cover 2 to complete the enclosing of the mechanism. The panel 51 is preferably provided with a pair of inwardly and rearwardly extending plate portions 58 which are pivotally secured to the end walls of the cabinet as by securing thereto pivot pins 59 which are passed through a suitable aperture provided in the plate portions 58. Proper spacing of the portions 58 from the end walls of the cabinet may be obtained by the employment of spacers 59 and cotter keys 6| may be employed to secure the portions 58 to the pivot pin 59.

Each of the plate portions 58 is preferably cut away as indicated at 62 to define an arcuate portion'63 disposed concentrically relative to the pivot pin 59. Upon this arcuate portion 53 we mount a portion of a sector gear 64 in a position to drivably engage a pinion gear 55 supported for free rotation upon the shaft 23. The gear B5 is secured to an inner clutch member 83 which is also mounted for free rotation relative to the shaft 23, the inner member 63 preferably including a shank portion 61 which may be threaded as in-A dicated at 58 to receive a clamping nut 69 by means of which the gear 95 may be non-rotatably locked relative to the inner clutch member G6.

The inner clutch member is preferably provided with a series of triangular notches 10 in which clutch rollers or balls 1| are retained, the rollers 1| being adapted to engage an outer clutch member 12 which surrounds the inner member 66 and is freely rotatable relative thereto. The outer surface of the clutch body 12 is preferably notched as indicated at 13 to receive a drive pin 14 which is secured to the drive roller 2|.

Thus, rotation of the gear 65 will be transmitted to the outerr clutch body 12 through the clutch balls 1| and the rotation of the outer member 12 may be transmitted to the drive roller 2| through the connection therewith which is afforded by the pin 14 and notch 13.

The panel portion 51 and the sector gear 64 carried thereby are preferably normally urged to an outer position such as that illustrated in Fig. 2 as by securing to the plate portions 58 rear wardly extending arms 15 to the rearwardmost ends of which are attachedV tension springs 16 extending into connection with the back plate 5 of the cabinet l.

The notches 1|) in the clutch member are preferably so formed as to permit the panel 51 to be pushed inwardly to rotate the gear 65 without transmitting this rotation to the outer clutch body 12. W'hen, however, the panel 51 is released, the spring 16 will return it to its outermost position, the resulting reverse direction` of rotation of the gear 65 serving to run the rollers 1| toward the small end of the notches in which they are received so as to provide a drivable engagement between the gear 65 and the outer clutch body 1?., thus causing the drive roller 2| to be rotated in the direction indicated by arrow 11 in Fig. 2 upon release of the panel 51.

Since the drive roller 2| is engaged with the toweling 31, it will be seen that this serves to feed the end 5B of the toweling outwardly of the cabinet I so that a person desiring to remove a portion of the toweling contained within the cabinet need only depress the panel 51 and release the same, whereupon the end 56 of the toweling will be projected from the end of the cabinet a distance sufficient to permit such user to grasp the same and withdraw a length of toweling.

As the toweling is withdrawn from the cabinet the roller 2| will be rotated, and we provide a driving engagement between the roller 2| and the cutter support 2 9 so that when a desired length of toweling has been withdrawn from the cabinet the cutter will be brought into operation in the manner previously described. This driving engagement is preferably obtained by means of a pair of interrupted gears 18 and 19 so arranged that two full turns of the driving roller 2| will result in the cutter support 29 being rotated one turn.

This may be accomplished by forming the gears in the manner illustrated in Figs. 4 and 5 wherein the gear 19 which is non-rotatably secured to the shaft 23 as by means of a pin 89 is formed with gear teeth 8| extending but half way around the circumference of the gear 19, the remaining one half of the circumference being smooth and toothless as indicated at 82. The gear 18 on the other hand is preferably pinned as by means of a pin 83 to the cutter shaft 28 and includes two diametrically opposed sets of gear teeth 84 and 85, each of the sets being separated from each other by lug portions 85 and 81 each of which is formed with an arcuate outer surface 88 conforming to the curvature of the smooth surface 82 of the gear 19.

When the gears are in a position such as that illustrated in Fig. 4 with the teeth 8| in mesh with one or the other of the sets of teeth 84-85, rotation of the gear 19` will cause a corresponding rotation of the gear 18. As soon, however, as the last one of the teeth 8| is meshed with the last one of the teeth in one of the sets 811-85, the smooth surface 82 will be caused to pass along the arcuate surface 88 somewhat in the manner illustrated in Fig. 5 so that the gear 19 may be rotated a full halfl turn without imparting any rotation to the gear 18.

At the end of this s-econd half revolution of the gear 19, the first one of the teeth 8| will be brought into engagement with the rst one of the teeth of the alternate set of teeth 84-85 so as to again cause the gear 18 to be rotated in synchronism with the gear 19. Thus, it will be seen that one full revolution of the gear 19r results in the gear 18 being moved in synchronism therewith for one half of such full revolution and then results in the gear 18 remaining stationary during the remaining one half revolution so that it is necessary to rotate the gear 19 through two full revolutions in order to cause one full revolution of the gear 18.

The gears 18 and 19 arel preferably so positioned relative to their shafts 23 and 28 as to cause the gears 18 and 19 to occupy positions such as that illustrated in Fig. 4 when the roller 2| and cutter support 29 occupy positions such as that illustrated in Fig. 8, thus providing a driving engagement between the roller 2| and the cutter support 29 during the time the cutter is being actuated to sever the cut material.

Thus, it will be seen that the length of toweling which may be withdrawn from the cabinet between successive operations of the cutter is equal to twice the circumference of the roller 2|. The interrupted gearing arrangement previously described accordingly permits the roller 2| and the cutter support 29 to be made of relatively small diameter and it will be realized that a three to one or four to one ratio can also be obtained in substantially the same manner as a two to one ratio is obtained by the gearing above described.

We arrange to permit the severed length of toweling to be torn from the remainder of the toweling material after the cutter has perforated the same in the manner previously described by the exertion of a straight lengthwise pull on the material. Accordingly a positive stop is included to prevent further rotation of the roller 2| and cutter support 29 when these parts are moved to a position such as that illustrated in Figs. 2 and 6. This positive stop may be provided by securing to the cutter shaft 28 a cam member 89 which is substantially circular in form and provided with an outwardly extending lug 90" defining a shoulder 9| adapted to engage the end of a locking dog 92 which is preferably pivotally supported as by means of a transversely extending supporting pin 93, the dog 92 being spring or gravity urged into engagement with the surface of the cam member 89.

Thus, when the roller 2| and cutter support 29' are rotated to a position such as that illustrated in Fig. 2, engagement of the dog 92 with the shoulder 9| will prevent further rotation of either the cutter support 29 or roller 2| by reason of the geared connection between these two elements. As a result, a continued pull on the toweling will cause the same to tear off in the manner previously described.

It is necessary that the parts be arranged in such manner that a subsequent depressing of the panel 51 for the purpose of extending the end 56 of the toweling be also effective in disengaging the dog 92 from the notch 9| so as to permit the rotation of the roller 2| and cutter support 29 to be resumed. For this purpose the dog 92 is provided with an extension 94 which is disposed in a position closely adjacent the outer surface of the outer clutch element 12 and this elementv is provided with a lug 95 adapted to engage the portion 94 and pivotally move the dog 92 from a position such as that illustrated in Fig. 2 to a disengaged position as is illustrated in Fig. 6.

In order to disengage the dog upon rotation of the outer clutch body 12, it is necessary that the clutch body 'l2 be permitted to move relative to the roller 2| and this is accomplished by providing a lost motion connection therebetween as by forming the notch 'I3 which receives the drive pin 'I4 with a somewhat greater circumferential length than the diameter of the pin ld. Thus, when the panel 51 is depressed and released the outer clutch body 12 is rst rotated from a position such as that illustrated in Fig. 2 to a position such as that illustrated in Fig. 6, thereby disengaging the dog 92 from the shoulder 9i. The subsequent engagement of the end of the notch 'i3 with the pin M then drives the, roller 2| so as to feed the toweling from the cabinet and rotate both the roller 2l and cutter support 29. The toweling is then grasped by a person desiring to withdraw a length of the same so that the roller 2l is driven by the pull exerted on the toweling.

This serves to move the pin M to the opposite end of the slot 'i3 to dispose the pin 74 and outer clutch body 'l2 in a position such as that illustrated in Fig. 7, whereby, after the cutting operation is performed at the position illustrated in Fig. 8, the dog 92 will engage the shoulder 9| before the projection 95 is engaged with the dog extension 94 so that the rotation of the roller 2l and cutter support 29 will be arrested to permit the cutting off of the removed length of toweling.

From the foregoing it will be observed that we have provided a towel dispensing cabinet wherein a continuous roll of toweling may be withdrawn in unit portions of any desired length and that as each portion is withdrawn from the cabinet the feeding of the toweling is positively stopped so as to permit the removed portion to be detached from the remainder by merely exerting a straight pull in the direction of the length of the toweling.

It will be furthermore observed that prior to the arresting of the feeding of the toweling the same has been severed and perforated insuch manner that when the removed portion is finally torn olf the difculties of tearing back along the length of the remaining toweling is avoided.

It will be furthermore observed that the actual parting of the toweling occurs at a point well within the cabinet so that there is no danger of toweling which is contained within the cabinet being contaminated before the same is withdrawn by a subsequent user.

Attention is also directed to the fact that the panel 51 may be depressed for the purpose of projecting the end of the toweling to a position where it may be grasped by the user and that the panel 5'! is so arranged that a person may depress the same by means of his arm or elbow, thereby avoiding the diiculties encountered in previous towel dispensing devices and residing in the contamination of the toweling and the rusting of the interior mechanism by Water deposited thereon from the wet hands of a user.

It will also be observed that the above described construction includes a means for positively arresting the feeding of the toweling after a predetermined length has been fed from the machine and that the panel construction 51 previously described functions to first disengage this positive stop and then 'project the severed end of thetoweling from the cabinet to permit a subsequent user to grasp the same.

While we have shown and described the preferred embodiment of our invention, we do not desire to be limited to any of the details of construction shown or described herein, except as defined in the appended claims.

We claim:

l. In a device for dispensing rolled sheet material, the` combination of a cabinet for enclosing a rolled supply of said material and having a slot through which said material may be drawn from the cabinet; roller means supported for rotation within said cabinet and drivably engaged with said material; stop means engageable with said roller means to prevent rotation thereof upon the withdrawal of a predetermined length of said material from said cabinet; a movable panel portion carried by said cabinet; and connecting means interconnecting said panel portion with said roller means and with said stop means, said connecting means being so constructed and arranged as to disengage said stop means fromk said roller means and then rotate said roller means upon movement of said panel portion.

2. In a device for dispensing rolled sheet material, the combination of: a cabinet for enclosing a rolled supply of said material and having a slot through which said material may be drawn from the cabinet; roller means supported for rotation within said cabinet and drivably engaged with said material; a cam member carrying an abutment drivably engaged with said roller means; stop means engageable with said abutment to prevent rotation of said roller means upon the withdrawal of a predetermined length of said material from said cabinet; a movable panel portion carried by said cabinet; connecting means coupling said panel portion to said stop member for disengaging said stop member from said abutment upon movement of said panel portion; and lost motion means coupling said panel portion to said roller means to translate movement of said panel portion into rotation of said roller means after said stop member is disengaged.

3. In a device for dispensing rolled sheet material, the combination of: a cabinet for enclosing a rolled supply of said material and having a slot through which said material may be drawn from the cabinet; roller means supported for rotation within said cabinet and drivably engaged with said material; a cam member carrying an abutment drivably engaged with said roller means; stop means engageable with said abutment to prevent rotation of said roller means upon the withdrawal of a predetermined length of said material from said cabinet; an over-running clutch including a driving and a driven element and means for drivably inter-engaging said elements upon rotation of said driving element in a predetermined direction; means on said driven element for engaging said stop member and moving the same out of engagement with said abutment upon rotation of said driven element; lost motion means drivably interconnecting said driven element and said roller means; a movable panel portion carried by said cabinet and mounted for inward and outward movement relative thereto; means normally urging said panel portion outwardly; and means coupling said panel portion to said driving element to rotate said driving element in said predetermined direction in response to outward movement of said panel portion, whereby outward movement of said panel portion following an inward movement thereof first disengages said stop member and then rotates said roller means to feed said material from said cabinet.

4. In a device for dispensing rolled sheet material, the combination of: a cabinet for enclosing a rolled supply of said material and having a slot through which said material may be drawn from the cabinet; roller means of predetermined radius supported for rotation Within said cabinet and drivably engaged with said material; a cutter support supported in said cabinet for rotation about an axis parallel to the axis of said roller means; a cutter carried by said support at a distance from the axis of rotation thereof approximating the radius of said roller means and in a position to engage and cut a portion of said material in contact with said roller means upon such predetermined partial rotation of said cutter support as will move said cutter in the same direction and at the same speed as the surface of said roller means is moved; and interrupted gearing interconnecting said cutter support and said roller means for producing one of said predetermined partial rotations of said cutter support upon each rotation of said roller means which makes a predetermined Whole number of revolutions in each cycle.

RUSSELL E. WALSH RAY O. WILSON. 

